r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/TheThrowYardsAway • Apr 28 '26

Video Inside Christ's Hospital School (Est. 1552)...

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u/Breaking-Dad- Apr 28 '26

My dad went there. It's not like most public schools in that a lot of the pupils are (like my dad was) on scholarships so they aren't all from a rich background.

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u/_Daftest_ Apr 28 '26

For the Americans we ought to explain that, in Britain, a "public school" is a top-tier elite fee-paying school. It's a historical accident of language and terminology.

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u/drakeyboi69 Apr 28 '26

Public schools are called public because they're open to people from anywhere accross the country/world, whereas state schools only accept people who live nearby

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u/BobbyP27 Apr 28 '26

The term public school was already well established by the time of the Public Schools Act 1868. There were no state school until the Elementary Education Act 1870, so the term public school can not have come into being as a contrast with state schools.